A working-class Oshawa mom is pleading with the province to continue paying for an expensive baby formula her son needs due to a severe milk allergy.

Andrea Gangel says 14-month-old Steven Gangel-Balsdon was diagnosed early on with an allergy to cow’s milk, as well as a serious intolerance to soy and lactose-free milk.

Breast milk is not an option, as Gangel, 35, isn’t able to produce it due to birthing complications.

Goat's milk? That's out, too, says Gangel.

For Steven’s first year of life, Neocate, an instant baby formula used as a supplement when managing food allergies and gastrointestinal maladies, took the place of milk.

Until recently, the cost — around $68 per can — was covered by the Ontario Drug Benefits program. That coverage stopped in November, Gangel says.

Since then, Gangel and her son’s dad, Ed Balsdon, with whom she also co-parents a two-year-old, have been paying for Neocate themselves. Steven goes through a can daily.

“Once he turned one, Neocate was not classified as his sole source of nutrition because he started to eat solid foods as well, so they no longer covered it,” said Gangel, who works in a decor store while Balsdon is a building superintendent. “I rent an apartment and (am) paying a lot of bills and everything else on top of that. It doesn’t leave me with much.”

The boy’s pediatrician has written to the ODB program, stating Steven has a “cow’s milk protein allergy and soy intolerance resulting in failure to thrive, bloody stools, vomiting and profound irritability.”

Dr. Tanya Buors says he needs Neocate until age two, but his family “is unable to absorb the cost.”

“I am strongly advocating for special consideration for ... Neocate to be covered through ODB,” she writes.

Health ministry spokesman David Jensen said in an email nutritional products are covered by ODB “only when prescribed by a physician as the patient’s sole source of nutrition.”

When asked if the ministry will help Gangel anyway, given the doctor’s letter, Jensen said “the ministry does not comment on individual cases.”

Gangel has sought help from her MPP, who was told by a liaison for Health Minister Eric Hoskins that patients “requiring only supplementation in addition to food are not eligible for coverage.”

She approached Nutricia, the company making Neocate, and was sent three free cans in early January. When she went back to Nutricia about her ongoing situation, the company offered her a free, four-can case if she bought a second case.

“We have been in contact with Ms. Gangel to better understand her situation, recognizing reimbursement for Neocate is the responsibility of the province and/or private insurers,” the company says.